Party of Regions wants EU-required revote in December

Ukraine’s parliamentary majority, led by the ruling Party of Regions, has decided to hold the revote of seven election districts from the October parliamentary election on December 22, the Kommersant-Ukrayina newspaper reported on July 17, citing as its source Party of Regions MP Mykhaylo Chechetov.

The Party of Regions wants to hold the elections after the November 28-29 Eastern Partnership summit in order to prevent the opposition from organizing provocations and undermining the signing of the Ukraine-EU Association Agreement, he said.

The opposition wants the revote held in early November, said Volodymyr Bondarenko, an MP with the Fatherland party, the biggest opposition faction. “The government wants to hold the elections after the Ukraine-EU summit, when the attention of EU member-states to the elections won’t be as steadfast as in the fall, which will provide the opportunity to falsify the election results,” he said.

Zenon Zawada: Among the key requirements cited by the EU leadership in signing the Association Agreement was holding a revote in the contested election districts, where final results couldn’t be established because of alleged fraud and violent conflicts afterwards.

While a December vote wouldn’t thwart EU requirements, a fair vote before the Vilnius summit would offer another weighty argument in favor of the Association Agreement. Therefore, we believe it’s not the opposition that is acting to undermine the Association Agreement, as Chechetov claimed, but the parliamentary majority.

We’re noticing a disturbing pattern by the Party of Regions of not striving to meet EU requirements, which means it’s either bargaining for concessions or wants to undermine its signing altogether in a passive way, making it look as if the EU will be rejecting Ukraine. This pattern leads us to keep our expectation of the likelihood of signing the agreement at below 50%.